Many thanks and a few questions.

My first J-knife has arrived, (a Takamura Migaki R2). It's a real beauty and at least as sharp as any knife I have sharpened, (if I am being kind to myself). Thanx for all the comments. They helped me make my decision. Now if I can get up the nerve to actually cut something, I'll be fine. Actually, I did dice an onion today, but just a tad bit slower than in the video I posted earlier. :scared4:

So other than keeping it clean and dry and using it carefully, is there anything else I need to know or do? Can I carefully debone a chicken breast? I normally use a smaller knife, but the gyuto is so sharp...

Thanx again ~ Ron

You can use whatever you want bro as long as you are comfortable and confident with it. But then you wouldn't be able to justify buying more knives? Oh gotta get that poultry knife. Definitely need that fish knife as well. I do like vegetables too, looks like I need a nakiri.

I would be careful Around chicken ribcage & joints with the thin edge Takamura. It can be done if you don't tork the blade or hit bones. Any old beater knife can debone a chicken, save the Takamura for all fruits, vegetables & meat without bone.

It’s fully stainless, don’t worry about keeping dry. I’d just keep edge away from frozen and bones. Best one and done knife!

ThEoRy said:

Definitely need those fish knifes as well.

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Fixed that. Yr welocme.

The I feel the Ttakamura should be a dedicated "sharp" knife. Get something suitable for butchery if you want to do that sort of thing. These 2 intrigue me just because they are American made, great steel, and Warther was an iconic sort of character.

https://warthercutlery.com/product/7-butcher-knife/

https://warthercutlery.com/product/7-slicing-knife/ I have a stiff 6" utility knife with this exact narrow profile (but real soft steel) and find it very useful. The extra inch on the Warther just makes it more useful when it comes to slicing, particularly chicken breast.

Stop being a coward and put that tool to work. Its a piece of steel, not a leukemia patient. How are you going to know its limitations if you are afraid to hack a chicken carcass?

Chicagohawkie said:

It’s fully stainless, don’t worry about keeping dry. I’d just keep edge away from frozen and bones. Best one and done knife!

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Even stainless edges dull when leaved dirty. Clean and dry the edge as if it were a carbon.

Chef Doom said:

Stop being a coward and put that tool to work. Its a piece of steel, not a leukemia patient. How are you going to know its limitations if you are afraid to hack a chicken carcass?

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Agree that worry about thin edge knives is blown out of proportion. Used them for years putting out banquets. But hacking a chicken carcass with a Takamura R2 is not a good idea. Knives that I used for years undamaged some one would borrow & come back with chipped edge. Have repaired plenty blades sometimes I wonder how they got so much damage.

Any idiot can wreck a blade finding out it's limitations. My Father had many wood chisels he used making models for wind tunnels at Langley from 1939 to beginning of Space Shuttle when he retired. Also had nice turning chisels making bowls into his 90's. When my mom died he remarried. Her sons destroyed some of his chisels. Split handles wrapped in duck tape, huge gouges in the edges. When my Dad died my brother sent me most of his chisels including my Grandfathers Boat building chisels.

Life is short. Eat the cake. Buy that thing you want.

Don't baby it. Judging by your comments you are NOT set out to destroy it. Yet don't baby it. Have fun with it.You bought it to use did you not? Use it!

You are not going to go chop a cinderblock with it. If and I say IF something happens to it. There are tons of experts on here that are more than glad to steer you in the right direction to fix it. And whats the worst that could happen? A chip or 2? PPssshh easy fix.

You only live once.

Edit: The cinder block comment. You do know some people on here can make a knife shaving sharp on a cinder block right? Yes they are that good. And they will help you. So remove all fear and doubt and use your blade!

Thanx all for keeping the comments coming. I don't plan on doing anything stupid with the knife, (I took the cinderblock back outside. :justkidding: ). But I just wanted to get an idea of what I can/shouldn't do ~ Ron

Please don't use it for the chicken.
The out of box edge is very thin, and will chip. If not atleast microchip. Enjoy your first Ferrari, take it easy. When you sharpen and rase the angle a little you can for sure use it on chicken. Microchipping is a common occurance with the takamuras and I've bought 3. They need to be sharpened to take away the excessively keen and delicate edge

Three things for the Takamura, and really just about any other performance knife for that matter - microbevel, microbevel, microbevel.

Thanx again to all who hare responded. It's been years since I used stones for sharpening, so I am practicing using the stones on a few older knives. The old motions are already coming back, but they are not precise enough yet. I had forgotten how enjoyable, (almost zen like), the process could be ~ Ron